Badminton player Kate Foo Kune banned for two years in doping case

Four-time African badminton champion Kate Foo Kune is out of the Tokyo Olympics as she was banned for two years on Wednesday for her involvement in a doping case.

Foo Kune also beared the flag for Mauritius at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

She had claimed that a bottle of water had been spiked with an parabolic steroid at the 2019 African Championship in Nigeria but the Court of Arbitration for Sport completely rejected that standpoint.

In fact, the Badminton World Federation themselves brought forward the appeal, thus challenging their own tribunal’s decision. They claimed that the 27-year-old wasn’t at fault and shouldn’t be imposed with any ban.

As understood from a CAS statement, Foo Kune claimed that,”she had been the victim of deliberate spiking of her water by an ill-intentioned individual during the event in question.”

“The CAS panel found the athlete’s assertion of intentional spiking … devoid of supporting evidence thereby falling short of a cogent explanation as to how the prohibited substance entered her body,” the court said.

The BWF ultimately accepted that even though she didn’t ingest the steroid intentionally, there was no benefit for her in a “no fault or no significant fault” ruling. So, she should be banned.

In a total of 519 career games, Foo Kune has won 303 while losing 216. 203 of those wins have come in singles with a high winning percentage of 60.6. As far as doubles competitions go, she has won 56 out of 100, whereas 44 more wins have come in 84 mixed doubles games.

Foo Kune is currently ranked 108 in women’s singles but had reached a career best rank of 57 in 2016. The 27-year-old has won four golds in Women’s singles and one gold in Women’s doubles competition at the African Championship, ever since her participation.